Moment #1
Title: Love in 30 (1 of 5)
Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Gendo/Rei.
Rating: PG
Warning: Squicky Freudian NGE romance.
Moment: #1-#6
Summary/Author's Note: The vignettes are meant to (eventually) be read in sequence. A love story that shouldn't have been, in thirty installments.
1.Bending the Rules
Ayanami. Rei.
She's fourteen; Gendo reminds himself. For the umpteenth time, she's barely an adolescent. Her face has that… unfinished shape of a growing girl, round and doll-like. She's half his height.
She's not human.
He is her guardian. If it's a girl… Rei. And the only one she ever smiles at. When he talks to her in the shadow of the great Evangelion, he repeats, many times, in his head the words he will say to her when the world ends.
Take me to Yui.
He rehearses these words. They give him confidence.
Sometimes, though, she raises her head like so, and the tilt of her neck like such, and he looks further downwards…
And she does.
2. Breakfast Nook
"Huh… no, he lives on work!"
Misato makes that a throwaway comment during Synchronization training when Gendo isn’t in the Geofront. It's seven AM in the morning, somebody dared to ask if maybe the Commander is having breakfast.
Inside Unit-00, Rei is suddenly very hungry.
The Commander lives on work... When Asuka or Shinji miss their breakfast, they always come in to practice grumpy and complaining…
"Rei? … you missed."
"Ah…"
"Just a little more, all right? Then we can all go eat together."
Rei doesn't want to eat; she wants to get the next shot right.
3. Lighting the Way
"She is the means to Instrumentality; She is a very lucky girl."
"That and other things."
Take me to Yui…
"She isn't a girl, Ikari. She's a… a… machine. We made her… almost from spare parts. She even looks like a doll."
His fist lands on the table just next to Ritsuko's hand.
"She isn't a doll."
She is the means to Instrumentality. She is luckier than any of them, in a way.
Take me…
"… and better than us… yes. She could teach us many things."
Ritsuko keeps looking at him. "She's not human, Ikari!"
Of course she isn't, Gendo knows; does that make it better or worse?
4. Lemony Fresh
Asuka is making a fuss. "But Kaji's coming! Where did you hide my shoes? Did you see where Misato put the lipstick? What do you mean it's hers? Shinji! Baka! You don't know anything about men do you!"
Rei backs away from the doorway a little. "Who is coming?"
"Kaji!" Asuka flares up. "Right around the corner. Can't you smell him? He's got the most wonderful smell!"
"Kaji." Rei nods. "And Commander Ikari."
Asuka and Shinji look ready to die. The Second Child looks at her, like she always does.
"Can you smell him or something?"
Rei would tell her that she doesn't, she just knows; but she has a feeling she should not.
5. Grocery Shopping
"Whatever you wish."
Gendo has never seen quite this sort of look on the Children. So he studies it briefly. Shinji looks like Shinji always looks.
Asuka is staring at Rei. "I can't go shopping with her!" She says.
And Rei says nothing.
You misunderstand, Gendo thinks, you are being given permission, and enough credit to spend a day purchasing whatever you deem right, within reasonable limitations. The decision of whether to exploit this or not is in your hands.
But what he says is, "you can, and you will."
6. Petting the Cat
Dr. Akagi's cat jumps up on the desk again. The cat has been loose in the NERV complex for almost three days now. For some reason, Commander Ikari's desk is his favorite place to sleep.
Fuyutsuki, Misato and Dr. Akagi are all talking up a storm around Commander Ikari and Rei. They're arguing, disagreeing, brainstorming, fighting, getting inspired and offended. Sometimes he punctuates their conversation with a few precise words that no one can argue with.
With one hand, he strokes the sleeping cat.
If I walk out, Rei thinks, he'll stop.
But she doesn't. She likes watching his hand move.
This has got me in a writing frenzy... I hope to have the rest in soon.
Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Gendo/Rei.
Rating: PG
Warning: Squicky Freudian NGE romance.
Moment: #1-#6
Summary/Author's Note: The vignettes are meant to (eventually) be read in sequence. A love story that shouldn't have been, in thirty installments.
1.Bending the Rules
Ayanami. Rei.
She's fourteen; Gendo reminds himself. For the umpteenth time, she's barely an adolescent. Her face has that… unfinished shape of a growing girl, round and doll-like. She's half his height.
She's not human.
He is her guardian. If it's a girl… Rei. And the only one she ever smiles at. When he talks to her in the shadow of the great Evangelion, he repeats, many times, in his head the words he will say to her when the world ends.
Take me to Yui.
He rehearses these words. They give him confidence.
Sometimes, though, she raises her head like so, and the tilt of her neck like such, and he looks further downwards…
And she does.
2. Breakfast Nook
"Huh… no, he lives on work!"
Misato makes that a throwaway comment during Synchronization training when Gendo isn’t in the Geofront. It's seven AM in the morning, somebody dared to ask if maybe the Commander is having breakfast.
Inside Unit-00, Rei is suddenly very hungry.
The Commander lives on work... When Asuka or Shinji miss their breakfast, they always come in to practice grumpy and complaining…
"Rei? … you missed."
"Ah…"
"Just a little more, all right? Then we can all go eat together."
Rei doesn't want to eat; she wants to get the next shot right.
3. Lighting the Way
"She is the means to Instrumentality; She is a very lucky girl."
"That and other things."
Take me to Yui…
"She isn't a girl, Ikari. She's a… a… machine. We made her… almost from spare parts. She even looks like a doll."
His fist lands on the table just next to Ritsuko's hand.
"She isn't a doll."
She is the means to Instrumentality. She is luckier than any of them, in a way.
Take me…
"… and better than us… yes. She could teach us many things."
Ritsuko keeps looking at him. "She's not human, Ikari!"
Of course she isn't, Gendo knows; does that make it better or worse?
4. Lemony Fresh
Asuka is making a fuss. "But Kaji's coming! Where did you hide my shoes? Did you see where Misato put the lipstick? What do you mean it's hers? Shinji! Baka! You don't know anything about men do you!"
Rei backs away from the doorway a little. "Who is coming?"
"Kaji!" Asuka flares up. "Right around the corner. Can't you smell him? He's got the most wonderful smell!"
"Kaji." Rei nods. "And Commander Ikari."
Asuka and Shinji look ready to die. The Second Child looks at her, like she always does.
"Can you smell him or something?"
Rei would tell her that she doesn't, she just knows; but she has a feeling she should not.
5. Grocery Shopping
"Whatever you wish."
Gendo has never seen quite this sort of look on the Children. So he studies it briefly. Shinji looks like Shinji always looks.
Asuka is staring at Rei. "I can't go shopping with her!" She says.
And Rei says nothing.
You misunderstand, Gendo thinks, you are being given permission, and enough credit to spend a day purchasing whatever you deem right, within reasonable limitations. The decision of whether to exploit this or not is in your hands.
But what he says is, "you can, and you will."
6. Petting the Cat
Dr. Akagi's cat jumps up on the desk again. The cat has been loose in the NERV complex for almost three days now. For some reason, Commander Ikari's desk is his favorite place to sleep.
Fuyutsuki, Misato and Dr. Akagi are all talking up a storm around Commander Ikari and Rei. They're arguing, disagreeing, brainstorming, fighting, getting inspired and offended. Sometimes he punctuates their conversation with a few precise words that no one can argue with.
With one hand, he strokes the sleeping cat.
If I walk out, Rei thinks, he'll stop.
But she doesn't. She likes watching his hand move.
This has got me in a writing frenzy... I hope to have the rest in soon.